This might be like my fifth article about Whole Foods (and I don't even shop there), but they're about to make yet another first in the industry. They have already had a huge impact on organic food and animal welfare thus far, here's hoping for another one. We can all agree that voluntary labeling is a good thing, right?

This is good, but I feel that of the 90% of Americans that don't realize they are eating GE foods, 99% of them probably don't care. That doesn't mean someone shouldn't be offering an alternative to those that do want to know. Plus, I don't believe all GE foods are evil, just as a whole there isn't enough public information distributed.

You are entitled to your opinion

If I didn't think I was eating GE foods, or that it is as widespread as it is, I probably wouldn't care either. It's like the chicken-or-egg syndrome.. you need labeling for people to realize that it's out there, but you're only going to get a lot of support for labeling if the people already know about it. That's why we need companies like Whole Foods to step up, so it can reach that critical mass..

I'll say that I'm not opposed to it.

I was in Portland when an initiative made it on the Oregon ballot that would have created involuntary labeling, which I was opposed to. Man, that one got some attention on campus.

Very true. I'm all for labeling to the extreme with food. I think the public deserves to know what they are eating in this regard. I'm just not expecting a sudden outcry from people that their corn was grown with implanted insecticides to save them money at the grocery store. Americans want cheap food more than anything. Now, when an organized terrorist group attacks our agriculture with any number of infectious agents and milk prices, etc. jump, then they'll be bitching.

A little off topic, but I heard the CEO caps his salary at a fairly low number compared to growth and profit of his company. He claims he wants the money to go back to his customers or employees.

I wonder if this is just Whole Foods's 365 label or all of the food that Whole Food sells????

Pretty sure it's just their own label. I doubt they could even get that information from some others if they tried..

Once they go ahead with this, I'm going to ask Wild Oats to do the same.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/issues/list_biotech.html

Genetically Engineered Foods
Our goal at Whole Foods Market is for all our own company branded products to be created from non-genetically engineered ingredients and processes. When developing products, we will intentionally source non-genetically engineered ingredients and, if not commercially available, we will encourage producers to work to meet this goal.

Through our support of organic and sustainable agriculture along with our commitment to providing informed, consumer choice, Whole Foods Market will label any Whole Foods Market branded products that are verified to be created only from non-genetically engineered ingredients and processes. A program to update current labels is underway.

Any Whole Foods Market branded products created with only non-genetically engineered ingredients will be labeled as such so customers can make an informed choice. As organic products must, by law, be created only with non-genetically engineered ingredients, all organic Whole Foods Market branded products will be labeled as not genetically engineered.

We also encourage our branded manufacturers and producers to create products without genetically engineered ingredients or processes and to label them as such.

Buying organic products throughout our stores is another way for customers to choose non-genetically engineered foods. Accordingly, we encourage manufacturers and producers to label organic products as not containing genetically engineered ingredients.

Testing:
We require all of the growers and producers of our Whole Foods Market branded products who claim to be using non-genetically engineered ingredients to document and verify their claims through independent, third party laboratory testing using the PCR method that can detect the presence and level of genetically engineered DNA within a product or, the case of a further processed product, from the original source ingredient.